New Year - home or away?

What are you doing for New Year's Eve? Perhaps you are throwing a fancy dress ball or hosting a black tie dinner party for 12? If you love entertaining it is a perfect excuse to do so in style.

Or maybe you celebrate with something more casual, a long standing tradition of dropping in on the neighbours or holing up in the local pub. Hogmanay can be huge fun in the right company.

Then again, you might be like us, preferring not to admit we would rather nod off in front of the telly than drive off in the dark to a far flung party or brave public transport with all those merry drunks. So we tend to claim a prior engagement in reply to any invitations that come our way. And you can take it from one who knows, IKEA is a queue-free dream at 8.30pm on New Year's Eve.

Well, this year I've had a change of heart. Wouldn't it be nice to get away and do something different? I've been looking at our options and have found some really exciting ideas.

We could spend a few days on a cosy riverboat, just unpacking once but getting a taste of Bruges – with its tempting excess of chocolate shops and a calorie-burning bell tower to climb before sailing on to pretty little Ghent with a big choice of Flemish beers to kick start our New Year's celebrations. There'll be time to rest in the afternoon as we sail on to Antwerp and watch the fireworks display on the river at midnight after a party on board.

Another trip that really appeals is a short cruise on the Rhine. Sailing past fairy-tale castles on crags dusted with snow, warming my hands on a glass of spicy gluhwein, browsing quaint little shops and visiting festive churches still displaying their traditional nativity scenes, all a short stroll from the ship.

Alternatively we could base ourselves in beautiful Regensburg, one of Germany's best-preserved Medieval cities, placed picturesquely on the confluence of the Regen and Danube rivers, with a delightful Old Town and a city gate dating back to Roman times. Staying in a city hotel with the freedom to come and go as we please sounds very relaxing and for New Year's Eve we can join a party with dinner and dancing on a riverboat with fireworks at midnight. I must say, the Continental tradition of fireworks at midnight is something really worth staying up for!

Fireworks in London

And then my husband pointed out that if we were going to go away in the middle of winter, wouldn't it make sense to head for the sun on a longer trip, with the added bonus of skipping the endless rounds of drinks parties and having the perfect excuse for not holding one ourselves.

A leisurely cruise to the Canary Islands for a couple of weeks or so has a lot going for it. Sailing from a UK port a few days before Christmas and returning after New Year, not only will be we avoid the pre-Christmas getaway pandemonium that hits the airports, we'll also be able to unwind with a few days at sea as we sail south. As the weather gets warmer we'll be able to peel off on the sunbeds on deck, or even have tea on the terrace of the legendary Reid's Hotel in Madeira en route to the beaches of Tenerife and Gran Canaria. What could be nicer than pre-lunch drinks overlooking the sparkling sea followed by a five-course Christmas lunch with all the trimmings, cooked, served and washed up by someone else? Well, if not this year, certainly something to plan for next.

In the meantime, closer to home we could have a lot of fun on a busy break in London. There are some good value two-night packages to take in a West End show such as the new stage show of Shakespeare in Love or a top musical like Phantom of the Opera or Wicked. We could be early birds at the January sales on Oxford Street and watch the New Year's Day Parade of floats and bands, acrobats and dancers make their joyful way along Piccadilly, and round Trafalgar Square to Westminster.

The choice is terrific. One thing is certain, my pre- New Year's resolution is to do something a lot more adventurous on December 31st than raiding IKEA and dozing in front of Jools Holland's Hootenanny.

Published by Mail Travel, a division of Associated Newspapers Limited, a company registered in England under company number 84121 with a registered office at Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT

Contact us

Thank you for contacting Mail Travel.

Your message has been received and we will make every effort to get back to you within the next 48 hours.

There has been an error sending your email. Please, try again later.

First name (optional)

Last name (optional)

Contact number (optional)

Email address

Reason

Booking reference

Comments (optional)

Check

Subscribe to emails

Thank you for subscribing to emails.

There has been an error registering your email. Please, try again later.

At Mail Travel, we not only like to inform you on our best deals and competitive offers, but we also love to share our knowledge. By joining our community and signing up to receive our communication, you can be assured you are amongst the first to hear about our exclusive deals, competitions and anything newsworthy. Please also don’t forget to ‘like’ us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter so you will also have the opportunity to interact with like-minded travellers, get insider travel tips from experts and share your thoughts.